Demons of the Past
by Kari-chan-06
Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...
1. A Question

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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1- A Question

It was just one of these days. Paperwork, more paperwork and even more paperwork than that. Tony sighed and dropped another file onto the floor next to his desk. "This is ridiculous." He muttered and started searching his desk for a candy bar.

"Let´s wait until I have to sign your paycheck, Dinozzo. Maybe I´ll think that´s ridiculous as well." Gibbs´ voice sounded over from the elevator and Tony asked himself yet again if their boss had been crossed with a bat. He heard just about everything he wasn´t supposed to hear, it was like a curse. "Kate, anything new on that phone bill?"

Kate got up, a file in her hand. "She called her CO twice that day before she disappeared. Plus there are four calls made to another cell, but we don´t get anything on that number, it´s probably one of those pre-paid phones." She told him and immediately knew that her answers would not satisfy him.

"Find the company who has that number registered, find out where that card was sold. Geez, Kate, you weren´t that slow before, were you? Why was it that I got you this job?" He asked and she rolled her eyes. It was this talk again.

"Because you thought she was pretty?" Tony piped up, but immediately regretted it. Gibbs shot him a warning glance and he decided to duck behind his computer.

"Dinozzo, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it. Do you have all contacts printed and ready for interrogation?" Gibbs asked and looked at him. After a second, he shook his head again. "Thought so, get going on it. We don´t have all day."

Kate sighed and gave her partner a compassionate look. She hated paperwork and there was one thing about it that made it even worse. Whenever Dinozzo got bored, he would come up with something to set her off. That usually brought him a slap in the head from Gibbs and a grin from Kate, but somehow he kept trying. Last time they had been so bored, two very embarrassing pictures had found their way onto Gibbs´ computer. They were pretty sure that he hadn´t seen them yet, since opening an attachment was about as easy for him as speaking Chinese, but they had no chance to get those pictures off his computer again. It was just a matter of time until the big bang.

Half an hour later, Gibbs went out for some coffee. They knew he would need about 20 minutes, since he always went down the road to his favorite Starbuck´s store. When the elevator doors closed behind him, all three of them sighed. Eventhough McGee had managed without a major attack from his gruffness himself, he felt for his colleagues. After all, they were a team. "Hey, Tony, want to know a fun fact?" He asked Dinozzo, who looked over and nodded. "What´s the German definition of team?"

Kate put her pen down and looked over rather interested, while Tony just shrugged. "Don´t know? Lots of people doing one job?"

McGee grinned. "Not quite. If you pull the letters apart, it would read "Toll Ein Anderer Macht´s", that means "Great, someone else is doing it"." He said and waited for a laugh, but none came.

"You just made that one up, Probie. Nice try though." Tony threw a piece of paper into his trashcan and yawned. "Gee, this is so boring." He started to hop through some personal files on his computer. "Did you know that Gibbs missed his last three medical examinations?" He asked them as he scanned the file of their boss.

"Tony, if he catches you doing that again, he´ll kill you." Kate warned him and continued to work on a file. "He threatened you at least three times."

"He´s gone to get coffee -won´t be back for a few minutes. You know what´s funny? I mean, there´s just one person around here who actually does, but why is Ducky calling him Jethro?" Tony said and sat up straighter in his chair.

McGee looked puzzled. "That´s his first name, isn´t it? He and Ducky are friends, so what´s so unusual about it?" Tim hadn´t been with the team very long, so he didn´t know very much about the others, at least what concerned private life.

Kate frowned slightly. "His full first name is Leroy Jethro, McGee. You´re right, Tony, that´s a bit strange. I never really thought about it...Wow, it´s definetely boring today that we start thinking about something like that...strange." She replied and dropped her pen again. "Maybe we should ask Ducky."

All three of them jumped up the same moment and headed into the elevator. They didn´t bother with the questioning looks some other employees threw at them or with the fact that Gibbs was going to freak out when he returned into an empty bullpen. Dr. Donald Mallard looked up from the body he had just been working on when the three agents walked into the autopsy room. "Well, good afternoon to all of you. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He asked and threw his bloody gloves into a trashcan.

They looked at each other for a moment before Kate decided to get right to the point. "You know Gibbs pretty well, right, Ducky?" She said and he gave her a nod. "Why does everyone, who is allowed to, call him Jethro? I mean, his first name is actually Leroy, isn´t it?" The look on his face immediately changed, telling her that she had addressed something she shouldn´t have.

"My dear Caitlin, I believe that this is a thing that does not concern your work. And besides that, I should advise you not to ask him about it. It is a matter of privacy, you know?" He told them, which added fuel to their suspicions. "If you would excuse me, I do have to finish this body today and my mother does not like it when I get home late." He pulled on a new set of gloves and returned to the autopsy table.

They walked over to Abby´s lab and found her working on some bloodsamples. "Hey, gang." She greeted them and smiled. "What are you up to? Trying to get away from our boss-man?"

Kate looked over at the elevator. It was about the time that Gibbs would come back and find the bullpen empty. "A bit, maybe. Do you have any idea why Gibbs is not using his first name?" Kate asked, but Abby just shrugged.

"I actually never thought about it, interesting thing though. Did you ask Ducky?" She put a tray of bloodsamples into the thermocycler and started it.

Tony watched her for a moment. "Actually, yes, but he told us that it´s not our business and that we should not continue to ask questions about it." He stated and started to play with a piece of bone that lay around on her desk.

Abby sighed and snatched the bone from him. "This is a piece of evidence, Tony. Not a toy. I think it´s not really like Ducky to say something like that. Normally, he starts telling stories when you ask him something. Did you know that Director Shepard and Gibbs actually..."

"Don´t you have work to do?" Came a low voice from the elevator and they cringed. He had done it again. "NOW!" Gibbs barked at them and they fled towards the staircase, trying to knock each other over in the course of doing so.

Abby felt herself blush and returned her attention to the thermocycler. She heard steps leaving her lab and sighed. She couldn´t help thinking about what Kate had mentioned about his first name though. That really was odd, but she had someone in mind who owed her a favor and picked up her phone. The call was rather unsuccessful, but it gave her at least something new to share with her colleagues. She typed an e-mail and sent it to Kate.


	2. Stuck

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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2- Stuck

Up in the bullpen, all three agents were keeping their heads down as low as possible. Eventhough he had gotten some of his favorite coffee now, Gibbs was in a pretty bad mood. Not unusual for a day like this, but still something they tried to steer clear of. Kate noticed her e-mail alert blinking on the screen and opened the new message. It was from Abby. "Got something new on what we talked about in the lab. Meet me in the elevator in 5. Bring the boys. Abby." The message said and she deleted it immediately.

Getting her colleagues into the elevator was the problem. She couldn´t just tell them because Gibbs was waching his agents from the corner of his eye. She pretended to enter something into her computer and sent a text message to both her colleagues. Only about half a minute later, both looked at her without letting their boss notice and nodded slightly. She got up. "I need to check with Abby about the phone. There seems to be a glitch in this bill. She can´t have possibly called two numbers at once, can she?"

Gibbs looked at her and then nodded. As she walked towards the elevator, she heard Tony getting up, mentioning that he would go check with Abby for additional information on a contact, while McGee excused himself to follow the call of nature. She wasn´t sure if he noticed that all of them got into the elevator, but the doors closed without incident. They went down to the lab where Abby jumped in with them. They pulled the emergency stop between the two stories and looked at her.

Abby grinned. "After you left, I got curious about that name thing and called up a friend of mine. We were in the same lab group at college and he still owes me something for getting him through his final. He´s working at the pentagon now."

"Wow, never knew you had important friends like that, Abbs." Tony said and raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with Gibbs?"

"Let me finish, sunnyboy. I asked him to run a background on our boss-man and see if he has maybe changed the priority of his first names. Making the second given name first or something. And he didn´t. So if you were correct, everyone should be calling him Leroy, because that´s what´s registered on his record. Jethro just registered as J. on there -pretty strange. Oh, and Dan told me that he had trouble getting into the record. There was a pretty high security level on it." She finished her report and looked around. "Any ideas to that?"

Kate thought for a moment. "When I was at the Secret Service, they used to tell us that records are only blocked if the person has been in some sort of conflict with the law -either as witness or suspect. Other reasons might be a high position in an agency, but I don´t think Senior Special Agent is high enough for that."

"I´ve had a case of a guy who had a blocked record. It turned out that he had been resettled after witnessing a murder, but that was back in New York and a different story. That is really strange, you know?" Tony said and opened his mouth to go on when his cell phone rang. He checked the ID and swallowed hard. "Yes, boss?" He held the cell away from his ear and all of them could hear the voice on the other end rather clearly.

"If you don´t get out of that elevator within the next 10 seconds, we will spend the rest of this day in the gym and I can promise you that there will be only one person walking out without help. And you can bet that this person will be me." He sounded very pissed and all of them knew it meant trouble.

McGee switched the emergency stop off, but the elevator didn´t move an inch. "Uhm...that´s not good." He said and tried again, but still, the light stayed off. "I believe we´re stuck."

Tony sighed and bumped his head against the wall. After that he took his cell phone out again. "Boss, the elevator is stuck." He simply said and pulled a face when a loud voice could be heard again.

"I said you got 10 seconds. I don´t care how you get up here. NOW!" Gibbs yelled and they looked at each other with a look of horror in their eyes.

Kate looked around. "How about we try the emergency hatch and get on top? There´s supposed to be a ladder we can take." She offered for a first idea, but McGee shook his head.

"Power is out -we wouldn´t get the door to open. Someone would have to pull it open from the other side and I don´t believe that Gibbs will do us that favor." He said and sat down on the floor. "I guess we´re dead meat then." He said and looked rather pale.

Abby sat down as well. "I haven´t been in the gym for like forever. I´ll be dead within a second." She told them and sighed. "And I left my caf-pow down in the lab."

"Great...we´re stuck in the elevator with Gibbs waiting for us up in the bullpen and there´s no way out." Tony chimed in. "Does this thing have ventilation?"

They tried the call button to get someone to help them, but since Gibbs knew where they were, they hoped that help would arrive soon. Sure enough, it didn´t. "It´s almost 6 pm...we´ve been in here for almost two hours. He´s going to kill us." McGee said after a while. They had tried to play a game of Truth or Dare, but after Tony had dared Kate to tell them about Panama City and received a rather angry look, they had given up on that.

"You know, I think he´s doing that on purpose because he´s pissed off." Kate offered and looked up to the ceiling. She pulled out her cell and dialed Ducky´s number in the lab, but he didn´t answer it. "Great...Ducky has gone home already."

Tony stared at her. "He´s gone...Gibbs gave him a ride today because Ducky´s old car gave up last weekend..." He stated dryly and saw horror on their faces. "Anyone got some food? I´m actually starving here."

"That´s all you ever think about, isn´t it, Tony?" Kate asked and grinned. "You won´t starve from spending a night in the elevator. Well, I´m not planning to stay here for the whole night. I´ll try to climb up there. Maybe someone will hear us and get help." She got up and opened the hatch that lead to the top of the elevator. Within a second she had pulled herself up and disappeared from their view.

"Kate? You okay up there?" Abby asked and got worried since there was no answer. "Tony, can you lift me up a bit?" She looked at him.

"I´ll go up first, Abby. I can help you from up there." McGee jumped in and pulled himself up into the darkness. "Okay, I´m up and..." He suddenly stopped and there was silence again.

Abby looked at Tony. "What in this world is going on?" She asked him, but he looked equally puzzled. She stretched her arms up and he lifted her until she could reach the top and managed to pull herself out. Tony followed only a moment later. His eyes took a moment to get used to the darkness and he saw his three colleagues standing right on top of the elevator. He was about to ask what was wrong when he noted another presence standing next to Kate.

Kate felt herself blush and was grateful for the semi-darkness that surrounded them. She stared at Gibbs, who held something in his hand. It was small and white, seeming to shine a bit in the darkness. It took her only a moment to realize what it was and felt her hands shaking. "Well now, since you´ve had to sit still for such a long time, why don´t we head out for the gym and get some exercise to loosen you up again?" Gibbs said in a calm voice.

Tony swallowed hard. He knew that tone -it usually meant nothing good. He looked at Kate and she too had realized that the small thing in Gibbs´ hand was a fuse from the elevator´s circuit. None of them talked as they climbed up the ladder to the half open door that lead into the bullpen. That trick had been one of the worst he ever pulled on them until now and they knew they were in for something.


	3. Abby works a miracle

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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3- Abby works a miracle...

"Could you please shoot me, Tony?" Kate asked and tried to sit up straight behind her desk. Her muscles screamed in pain as she did so and she sunk back until her head rested on her arms, which she had somehow gotten onto the desk. The workout the day before had definetely killed her. She had barely made it home and flopped down onto the couch. When she tried to get up and go to bed, she couldn´t move anymore and had just slept on the couch for the night. It hadn´t helped much and she was sore like never before.

Her request was met by a groan from behind the other desk. "If I could move, I would kill myself first, Kate." Tony replied, lying on his back, feet on his chair. His back was killing him after he had landed himself on the ground during a spar with Gibbs. "If you think he got us bad, did you see Abby this morning?"

"She´s totally screwed, could hardly get her collar on, at least that´s what she told me. Those push-ups were killers." McGee chimed in, looking equally beaten. "If we have to go out to a scene today, there will be another victim in here first."

The elevator opened and Abby came out, surprisingly she seemed rather cheerful. "Hey, you guys." She said and smiled. All three glared at her.

"Whatever drugs you took, I want some." Tony groaned as he flipped onto his side to look at her. When she tossed a blister pack at him, he was surprised. "Hey, that was supposed to be a joke, Abbs. What is this?"

"Pain reliever and muscle relaxant. Take two of those with some liquid and I tell you, it works magic. Just don´t tell anyone, I got it out of Ducky´s office, he´d kill me." She said and threw two morepacks at Kate and McGee before bouncing back towards the elevator.

Kate sighed and took two of the pink tablets with a large gulp of water. "Well, better drugged than in pain. It can´t be much worse." She said and put her head down again. Her colleagues did just the same and surprisingly, all three of them started to feel a lot better a few minutes later.

"Wow...that stuff is great." Tony said after a moment. He sat up and noticed that his muscles didn´t ache anymore. He got up completely and stretched. "Well now, where did we stop with out paperwork last night?" He took out a file and started working on it.

Kate looked at McGee, who returned her look. "What ever happened to our old Tony?" She asked, but he just shrugged. Picking up her phone, she dialed Abby´s number. "Hey, Abbs, are there any side effects on that stuff we should know about?" She asked after admitting that the tablets had done a not too small miracle on their sore bodies.

"Uhm...oh, yeah, I forgot. If you take them with caffein, you get like hyperactive for a while. It should wear off after about one or two hours. Oh, and you shouldn´t exactly be driving for a few hours after taking them, slower reflexes, sorry I forgot to tell you. I´m not sure about any others, didn´t get through much of the warnings before Ducky came back." Abby said and hung up.

Kate sighed. "Tony, did you take those with coffee?" She asked and wasn´t really surprised when he nodded. "Hey, do you mind taking two of my reports today? I don´t think I get all of these done." She said and grinned when he took them without a word.

"Wow..." McGee looked impressed. "Hey, Tony, would you take a report from me, too?"

"Bambino, you should start working. Gibbs is going to kill you if you don´t get done." Tony replied and McGee´s smile slid off his face.

Kate just grinned and started typing again when the elevator opened and Gibbs walked out. She looked at him and had to hide a smile. Eventhough everything seemed normal, she noted that he was walking rather stiffly today. "Morning, boss." She called over and put a nice smile on.

Like on all other days, he didn´t return the greeting, but slumped into his chair with a sigh. "Did you get those reports done, Dinozzo?" He asked and raised and eyebrow when Tony handed him all reports immediately. He looked over them and scratched his head. "Damn, Dinozzo...did you threaten Kate to do those or did our little exercise help you grow braincells?" He asked and McGee chuckled.

"Neither, boss. Just finished them off a moment ago." Tony replied without looking up from his screen. "I´ll have that last one ready for you in just a minute."

Gibbs threw a questioning look at Kate. "What happened to him?" He asked and stretched, pulling a face when he did so.

"No clue, Gibbs. What´s wrong with your back?" She asked with a mischievous grin on her face. She got up and put two files back into the cabinet and then looked at their boss.

"My back? Nothing..." He replied, but the lie was evident. "How did you like our little exercise last night? Care for another one next week anyone?" He asked and leaned back again. That smile on his face told her that he believed to know their reaction, but today he would be surprised.

"Sure, why not? Wednesday after work?" She asked and her two male colleagues nodded in unison. The look on Gibbs´ face was hilarious. He stared at them, one after the other, mouth hanging open. "Or rather on Monday to have a good start for the week?"

Instead of answering, Gibbs got up and turned towards the elevator. "I need coffee." He muttered under his breath and left the bullpen. The three agents grinned at each other.

"Wow...I never thought I´d see him being sore. Always seemed like nothing could touch him, but I guess he expected us to be in pain or something. Or he´s simply getting old." Tony said, finally looking up from the computer.

"Tony, we actually are in pain, only that those tablets helped with it. If he finds out we´re drugged, we´re dead for sure and so is Abby." Kate told him and knew that none of them would spill their little secret.

About half an hour later, Gibbs returned to the bullpen with his cell on his ear. He put it away and looked at them. "We got a body out in Norfolk." He simply said and they got their gear to head out. Kate caught his gaze for a second when she threw the backpack onto her back and strode into the elevator. He was still trying to figure out what they had done.


	4. Side effects

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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4- Side effects

Getting into the truck, they waited for Gibbs to drive, but he handed the keys to Dinozzo, who shot a look of horror to his colleagues. McGee was riding with Ducky and was therefore lucky. With a look pleading for help, Tony started the van and Kate buckled up, which she rarely did when they headed out for a scene. Gibbs gave her a questioning look, but when the van shot out of the parking lot and almost hit a traffic sign, he put the seatbelt on immediately. "Damn, Dinozzo, we are not in that much of a hurry." He said when Tony hit the third red light in a row. "You drive like a maniac."

Kate grinned, inspite of being terrified right now. "Well, now you see how we feel when you are driving." She managed before grabbing the doorhandle for a hold.

At the scene, she felt herself shaking slightly when she could finally get out of the van. Abby´s warning had been correct -driving under the influence of those tablets in was surenot to berecommended. She got out the PDA and started to scan the scene for evidence while Tony took pictures. After about 10 minutes she heard the forensic van stopping next to the MCRT van. "Caitlin? Anthony? May I have a word with you?" She heard Ducky calling them and wondered what was up. She walked over to him and saw McGee sitting in the truck. Tony came over as well.

Gibbs was talking to some police officers and didn´t notice. "What´s up, Ducky?" She asked and noticed a look of concern in his eyes.

"I don´t think it´s necessary for Jethro to hear this, but I need to know if you took any tablets today. Maybe pink ones like these?" He asked and showed them a small pill, just like the ones they had taken.

They exchanged a look of horror. "Why are you asking?" Tony asked, some panik in his voice. No matter how he had found out, they were dead meat now.

Ducky forced them into the van. "Abigail collapsed in the lab shortly before we were called out. When I found her, she told me that she had given you these. She was right that they work fine in case you are sore or have a terrible backpain, but they are also dangerous. Did you take more than one of these?" He asked and from the tone in his voice, it was serious.

Kate nodded. "Two of them. What´s wrong, Ducky?" She started to get scared now.

"When did you take those?" He asked and frowned when they told him. "I need all three of you to go back with me now. Don´t ask any questions, but we got less than 30 minutes to give you another medication. I can´t do it here, because it can only be given by IV. I have Mr. Palmer looking after Abigail as we are speaking. Now, buckle up." He said, got into the driver´s seat and started the car.

All three swallowed hard. "Gibbs will kill us..." Tony muttered and watched how their boss spun around at the sound of the van, tearing out onto the road again.

"Do not worry, Anthony. Your secret will be safe with me as long as you promise me to come to me right away next time you need something. I shall tell Jethro that the four of you got some tricky drug into your drinks when you were out last night." Ducky told them and they were rather relieved.

"Ducky, we owe you one for this." Kate said and saw him smile.

"I was thinking about a nice homemade dinner. I do remember that you are said to have a hand for pasta, Anthony? And I heard that Kate does make a terrific chocolate cake. And some good salad will fit well with that, don´t you think, Timothy? Young Abby has already promised me to bring along some good wine for this." He smirked and pulled up into the parking lot of the NCIS headquarters a few minutes later.

He ushered them down into the morgue. Abby was lying on an autopsy table, awake, but looking mortified. "Hey, guys...Listen, I´m sorry about..." She said as she turned her head to them.

Tony raised his hand as he sat down on another table. "Not your fault. I just wonder what Gibbs will do to us when he gets back...We just bolted out from an investigation." He said and flinched as Ducky attached an IV-line to his arm. "How long does this take, Duck?"

The doctor smiled as he put the last IV line into Kate´s arm, who was on a table next to Abby. "Oh, just about two hours. It´s about 10 ounces of saline solution with a quench of a wonderful chemical that will counteract the toxic little devils all of you have in your systems. I must ask you to lie down though. Sitting up will give you a terrible headache, which is one of the unfortuante sideeffects. You are very lucky that this did not happen after you had left for your homes. I believe all of you have learned a lesson today, haven´t you?" He asked and gave them a stern look.

"Yes, Dr. Mallard." All four said in a chorus and continued to look mortified. They lay down, which felt a bit odd as there were normally dead people lying on these tables. None spoke for a moment until they heard Ducky laughing a bit.

"You know, this reminds me of my time at medical school. Back then..." His speech was thankfully interrupted by his phone and all of them knew who was on the other end of the line. Even the ringing sounded rather disturbing already. Ducky smiled and turned the speaker on. Abby had gotten him one of those as they made it easier for more than two people to communicate. "Yes, Jethro?" He said in his normal, calm manner, but stood a good three feet from the desk.

"Where in this world did you go, Duck? Where is my team? I´m standing here at the scene of a murder and everyone is just gone. There better be a very good explanation." Gibbs was royally pissed off. He didn´t yell or anything. His voice seemed calm and that was the one thing that was really a sign that he was angry.

"Jethro, I am sorry for not notifying you right ahead, but I had to take care of them first of all. As it seems, Abigail, Anthony, Caitlin and Timothy were out at a bar last night together and something has been put into their drinks. None of them had noticed until Abigail collapsed in her laboratory about an hour ago. When I saw her, I recognized signs of early toxic shock and questioned her about the reason. She did not know exactly, but pointed out that all four of them had been drinking from the same pitcher last night and as she hadn´t eaten anything since then, I thought it might be possible that the rest of them would be effected as well." He gave a rather long report about the situation and received four very grateful looks from them.

For a moment, there was nothing to be heard. "I´ll be there in 10." Was all Gibbs said and they looked at each other after the line went dead.

"Holy...he´s pissed, isn´t he?" Kate said, but Ducky shook his head, much to everyone´s surprise.

"I believe you are wrong about him there, Caitlin. From his reaction, I would say that he is rather worried about you. Eventhough he normally does not show it, he cares about everyone of you deeply. Now, you do not need to tell him that you know, but you may want to keep it in mind. I shall go and finish off some work in my office now. When Jethro gets here, please tell him where I am." Mallard said and then disappeared from their sight.


	5. Surprising Invitation

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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5- Surprising invitation

"Wow...never thought it would end like this." Tony said and the rest nodded a bit. "I just hope Gibbs will buy that bar story. I don´t need him finding out what really happened." He said and then watched the liquid dripping through the IV line into his arm. It felt a bit cold when it entered the bloodstream, but it wasn´t too bad. The cool metal of the table beneath his body felt worse.

"That was so weird, you know? I was doing that analysis on the computer and all of the sudden I´m on the floor and Ducky is talking to me. I have a complete blank there, never happened before -and I really had some things happening before." Abby told them and Kate smiled. She knew that Abby hadn´t always been the nice girl she was now. There had been some tough times in her life, but most people didn´t know. They were friends, that was how Kate knew about those dark sides as well.

About 10 minutes after his call, Gibbs walked into the hallway in front of the morgue. He looked through the window, seeing four figures lying on the tables, IV bags hanging above each one of them. He couldn´t see if they were awake or not, because he was too far away and just charged into Mallard´s office. "Jethro, you made the way rather quickly, I must say." He was greeted by the older man.

"Duck, spill it. How are they?" He asked as they walked back into the hallway. There was worry in his voice. He usually stayed rather calm when one of them got into trouble or was unfit for duty, but having his three agents and Abby out at once sure was new to him.

"Now, you don´t need to worry about them, Jethro. I expect that they are resting a bit at the moment. I just had them lie down as the medication that counteracts the drug in their systems may lead to a severe headache if they sit up while it is administered." Mallard explained as they walked in. Four heads turned into their direction with slightly scared looking eyes.

Gibbs stopped and looked at them. Abby looked a bit paler than normally, McGee seemed uncomfortable with the needle in his arm. Tony and Kate had been talking a moment ago. All of them looked like they had gotten a pretty good scare from this. He was relieved to see that they were okay. "Any idea how you got drugged?" He asked, but all four couldn´t give him an answer. "You´re lucky that Ducky recognized what was going on. When you´re done down here, I want all of you up in the bullpen." He said and walked out again.

"Wow...if that´s his way of being worried, I rather have grumpy Gibbs yelling at me." Tony said and continued to watch the IV emptying slowly. Abby was done first and sat up slowly.

"Didn´t you say you don´t get a headache from this stuff when you´re lying down?" She asked and blinked her eyes a couple of times. The pain between her temples seemed to explode.

"It may still happen. Have a drink and take it slow, Abigail. It should subside rather quickly." He handed her a glass of water and they waited until the last IV was through.

Kate sighed and rubbed her arm after the needle was taken out. "That´ll be one hell of a bruise tomorrow." She complained and rolled her sleeve back down. "Well, let´s face the dragon then."

All four walked into the bullpen and found their boss sitting at his desk. He looked up when they came in, but they couldn´t read his eyes. "Abbs, you can go back to the lab. Just take it slow, but get me those DNA scans done." He said and Abby looked surprised. She walked back into the elevator immediately. "Now, do you have any idea where or how this happened?"

Tony looked at him. "We were in like four or five clubs last night. It could have been anywhere there. We shared pitchers in each of them." He said and hoped that it would sound plausible. After a moment, Gibbs just nodded.

"All right then. I believe there is still some work to finish up. Balboa and his people got the scene covered us, so we´re back to paperwork for the rest of today." He sat down at the desk again and started to read through some reports.

All three agents were rather quiet all day long. Kate still had a headache, which got worse as the day went on. Shortly before they got off for the day, it seemed to split her head in half and she went to see Ducky. He looked at her when she explained it to him. After interrogating her about medication, he found the cause and smiled. "It´s just a side effect from the mix of that antitoxin and the cold medicine you´ve been taking over the last week. Nothing to worry about, but you should ask someone to drive you home. It´s not save for you to drive."

When she returned into the bullpen, all except for Gibbs were gone. "Did Tony go home already?" She asked and reached for her coat. He just nodded and she sighed. She tried to call Abbs, but she had left as well, as had Ducky. That left only one person and she didn´t exactly want to ask.

"Anything wrong?" He asked just that moment and looked at her.

"Uhm...it´s just...I got a headache from that stuff Ducky gave us today and he told me I shouldn´t be driving. I was going to ask Tony, but..." She said, but stopped then. She couldn´t possibly think that he would take her home, or could she?

"Oh...well, why don´t you ask me?" He offered and grinned widely. She wasn´t sure if he was just joking or if that offer was serious.

"I...uhm...so...could you give me a ride?" She finally asked and was surprised when he nodded.

"No problem. Let´s go." They went down to the garage and she threw a look at her car. She remembered in what area he lived and cringed. It was the exact opposite direction. Before he started the car, he took his phone out. "Hi, it´s me. Yes. Yes, how did you...oh, okay. Really? That´s too bad. All right, bye, Duck." He said and she threw a puzzled look at him. "Oh, nothing really, Ducky just cancelled our dinner tonight."

"Oh, that´s a pity." Kate said and felt a bit uncomfortable now. She hardly recognized Gibbs anymore. It seemed like a different person had taken his place the moment they had walked out of the office.

"Yep, sure is. I had a wonderful casserole for that. It´s a shame to throw it away." He said and then hesitated. "Uhm...hey, do you like chicken casserole?" He asked and she looked at him for a moment. "I mean, if you´re feeling okay enough to come over for dinner. I can take you home afterwards." Kate was shocked. Was he actually inviting her over for dinner? To his house? She wasn´t sure how to react until she looked at him a little longer. "Sorry, forget about that. I´ll take you home." He drove out of the garage and took a right onto the main street.

"No, it´s okay. Actually, I wouldn´t have to cook myself then." She said and noted the smile on his face. They didn´t talk much on the drive. Kate had never been near his house and only knew about it from what Ducky had told them once in a while. It surprised her how big the house actually was. "You´re living here on your own?" She asked and he nodded. "It´s huge."

"I had to move a lot of stuff from the basement -the boat takes up most space down there." He told her and opened the front door to let her in.


	6. Dinner and a Picture

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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6- Dinner and a picture

"So it´sactually true? You´re really building a boat down there? How do you plan toget it out?" She asked and put her coat away.

He smiled. "Actually, I haven´t thought about that yet. It´s far from being done, so there´s some time left to think about it. What do you want to drink?" He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. "I got water, orange juice, milk or coffee of course. Oh, and there´s some wine somewhere around as well."

"Water is fine, I don´t think I could take any wine tonight." She said and sat down on the couch. She had´t expected his house to be like this. It actually looked warm and friendly -two words nobody who worked with him would associate with Gibbs. He handed her a glass and was gone again. She scanned the books standing on a shelf. It surprised her that she had read most of them. "Did you read all of those?" She asked when he returned, noting that he had changed into jeans and a simple grey shirt.

"Sure did. Each and every one. Surprised?" He took a bottle of wine out of the shelf next to the fireplace and sat down in an armchair, helping himself to a glass of wine.

Kate watched him closely for a moment. "To be honest, yes, a bit." She admitted and smiled. She was even more startled when he gestured her to follow him and opened basement door. "You´re showing me your basement?"

"You don´t want to see it?" He asked, but went down the stairs anyway, hearing her steps close behind him. The boat barely fitted into the basement. She could smell sawdust and grinned when she noted the many scotch bottles lined up on a cupboard. "Don´t look too closely, it´s not easy to sand a boat after four cups of scotch." He said and ran his hand over the wood. After a few moments, he guided her back upstairs and sat down on the couch. "Just don´t tell anyone you´ve seen her, okay? I don´t need Dinozzo breaking into my basement."

"He wouldn´t." She said and he looked at her. "Do you really think he´s the same guy he tries to portray at work? All of us are different once we get home." For some strange reason, the headache wasn´t bothering her anymore. At first she had put it on the distraction, but then she noted that it was gone.

"Sure about that?"

"Definetely, well okay, Tony is not that much different, he´s actually more of a teenager when we get off work, but that´s the exception. I mean, where didthat other Gibbs go, the onewho isbarking at us all the time? Did you leave your second b at the office?" She asked and he laughed about that statement.

"No, it´s hanging at the front door. It´s bothering me around here, so I just leave it at the door." He walked back into the kitchen to look after the food. "I think we can eat. Would you mind to set the table? Plates are in that low cupboard over there." He called overand she got up.

"Wow, I had no idea that you can cook." Kate said after finishing her plate. After working with him for such a long time, she had not expected to see so many different sides on him. Let alone being invited for dinner at his house, of course.

"There´s a lot you don´t know about me. Actually, I like it that way. Work is one thing, but I like to keep my private life...well, private." He told her and put the plates into the sink.

She looked at him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "If you do, why did you take me to your place and even show me your boat? You told us that the boat is your ultimate privacy." She asked and eyed him suspiciously. She knew that he wasn´t trying to seduce her -he wouldn´t have managed to get her here if she had seen that coming in the first place.

"I...well, I guess I just cared for some company tonight. Shocked?" He asked, sounding a bit hurt all of the sudden. Another thing she had never expected to hear from him.

"I´m sorry, Gibbs. I mean, thanks for dinner and all. I just didn´t expect it." She said and watched his expression softening again.

He smiled at her. "Ducky keeps telling me I have two completely opposite sides, but I never really cared, I guess.That doesn´t mean that I don´t have a normal life aside from being a special agent. I just don´t like to mixthem up too much. Abby has been here before. She saw the boat. And Ducky as well." He told her and she was surprised. "I´ve known Abby for a long time, longer than you think."

"Okay, that´s news to me, but you don´t have to tell me." She said immediately, not wanting to invade into his privacy any more than she had already done, but he simply smiled.

"Kate, we´ve been working together for almost two years now. If you don´t want to talk, it´s okay. Just tell me. I´m just trying to be a bit nicer, I think." He said and it sounded very honest to her, though she could sense his uncertainty.

"I didn´t mean to hurt you, I´m sorry. It´s just...this is so completely from outer space to me. I always thought you would have all kinds of military stuff at your place, from the way you are at work. Gee, I mean, I´m a profiler. I thought I had you figured out and then I have to realize that you´re a completely different person than I thought." She said and wondered how she could have been so wrong about him all that time.

He smirked. "You´re the best profiler I know. It doesn´t have anything to do with your abilities in that field.I simply learned to hide certain information from other people. Uhm...I need to make a call really quickly, it just takes a few minutes, okay? You can turn on the TV, if you want to." He offered and left the room.

Kate looked around for a moment before reaching for the remote control that sat on the table. She didn´t think about him being her boss anymore. She smiled a bit when she caught herself considering him as a friend. She started watching the news and didn´t notice how she fell asleep during that.

When Gibbs returned from the other room, he felt himself smile. Kate had fallen asleep in the large armchair. He turned the TV off and placed a blanket over her. "Good night, Kate." He told her softly and turned the lights out before going to bed as well. It was late enough and the alarmclock would wake him at 6 am anyway.

The night seemed really short somehow. When he woke up from the sound of the alarmclock, he had forgotten about his guest and almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed a figure sleeping in the armchair. After a second, he remembered and smiled. He took a shower and got dressed for work before waking her up. "Kate?" He carefully shook her and she bolted up a second later. He felt himself smile when she looked around with wide eyes, clearly shocked.

"What the...what time is it?" She asked and rubbed her eyes.

"It´s almost 6:30 am. You fell asleep when I was on the phone last night. I didn´t want to wake you up." He said and walked back into the kitchen, getting two cups of coffee onto the table and some eggs into a pan.

Kate still sat in the armchair and tried to tell herself that she was dreaming. "Okay, don´t panik. He´s just kidding you. You fell asleep a few minutes ago, it´s okay." She told herself, but when she turned and looked out of the window, she realized it wasn´t a dream or a joke. Looking completely mortified, she walked into the kitchen.

He looked at her, still smiling. "What´s wrong?" He was in the middle of setting the table and put two plates with bacon and eggs next to a box of Capt´n Crunch.

"Please tell me this is a dream..." She muttered and took a sip from the coffee. "I must be dreaming."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you´re wide awake." He said and started to eat. "Eat up or the eggs will be cold."

She did as she was told, but still felt bad for falling asleep at his house. "I didn´t want to bother you this morning too." She said as she finished her plate. "Thanks though."

"Hey, no problem really. Ducky keeps telling me off for not having a proper breakfast, he can´t do that today. I even got a witness." He put their plates away. "We need to leave in about 10 minutes. The bathroom is the third door on the left, towels are in the right cupboard." He told her and finished to pack his stuff together.

When she took a towel from the cupboard to wash her face, Kate noted the pictures on the wall. She recognized Gibbs on most of them and a red-head, who must have been one of his ex-wives. Searching for a brush, she opened a drawer and saw another picture in there. It showed Gibbs, the red-head and a boy of about five years. Judging from how it looked, it was about 10-15 years old. Noticing that it was not her business, Kate shut the drawer again and headed out into the hallway. "I look like crap." She stated while she tried to pull her hair into a ponytail in front of a mirror.

"No you don´t." He told her and took her coat from the hanger. They got into the car and drove to the office. Kate had already decided not to mention that night to anyone, though the photography was making her wonder. Gibbs had never said anything about one of his ex-wives having children. And his file didn´t give anything like that away either.

When they walked in, nobody else was there yet. It was 7:50 am, so they had another 10 minutes. "I´ll go see Ducky for a moment." She told him and returned into the elevator after putting her purse and coat behind her desk.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed this so far. Eventhough it might look like it, it´s not going to end up as a relationship-fic or something. I know it´s kinda implied here and there, but it´s not as it seems.


	7. Demons unleashed

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Just why is Gibbs never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it and start to dig. What they find is more than they were ready to get...

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7- Demons unleashed

Mallard usually arrived quite early as well, so chances to meet him down there were good. Kate found him in the morgue, putting some tools onto a table."Ducky? Can I talk to you for a moment?" She asked and he looked up in surprise.

"Well, certainly, Caitlin. I take it you are feeling better this morning?" He said and leaned against an autopsy table.

"Well...this gotta stay between us, okay? Gibbs gave me a ride last night, because you told me not to drive. Well, he asked me if I wanted tojoin him fordinner at his place, since you two had to cancel that. And I fell asleep somehow and was there all night." She told him and noticed a grin on his face, but he didn´t say anything. "This morning I was in the bathroom, trying to get my hair fixed and there was this picture... Ducky, does Gibbs have son?" She askedstraight away and noticed how his face darkened a bit. Her feeling had been correct, there was something about that picture, something he was hiding.

"Caitlin, please do not ask me this. Do not make me break my promise."Mallard pleaded and she was surprised by this reaction. Usually, he had a wonderful talent to distract from uncomfortable questions with a little story, but he didn´t even try.

"Ducky, I won´t tell anyone, I promise. It´s just...He looked so happy on that picture and when I was there last night, he was so completely different from what he´s like around here. It´s strange and I just want to understand." She said and gave him a look that would have had Tony backing up. She didn´t like to force it out of him like this, but she just had to know.

Ducky sighed. "Promise me that this will not leave this room?" She nodded. "Yes, Jethro had a son. And yes, that is the reason why he goes by his second given name. It was his first marriage. Actually, back in those times, Jethro was a lot like our Anthony is today, only a bit more mature, of course. They were very happy together and had a son. That was 17 years ago. They called him Leroy Jonas." Kate smirked a bit at the ambiguity of the initials L.J."He was a bright kid,very curious and always friendly. I was his godfather, that´s how I know about all this. It happened shortly after Leroy´s 5th birthday. That picture was taken on that birthday, you know? They were watching an Air Show at the base out in Norfolk that day. Leroy got separated fromhis parentsand turned to a marine for help. It turned out that the man had killed two children in the area in the weeks before that..." He said and his voice trailed off.

Kate put her hand over her mouth and recoiled. Tears rose into her eyes when she realized how this story was going to end. "Oh my god...you mean...?"

He nodded and she noted that it was difficult for him to talk about it. "Leroy was found two weeks later in a small forest only a few miles from the base. Needless to say that Jethro was heartbroken. He has never been the same person ever since. That was what destroyed that marriage -and the ones to follow this one as well. As soon as he had found someone again, he feared to lose them andwithdrew completely. His first name would always remind him of what happened, that´s why nobody uses it. Caitlin, please do never tell anyone about this." He said and she nodded.

"Never, Ducky. Thank you for telling me." She said and walked back upstairs. Her heart was beating like mad and her insides felt like ice. She couldn´t imagine how someone could carry on after such a terrible incident. Walking into the bullpen, she tried to hide her tears and smile, but it was difficult. She couldn´t look into Gibbs´ eyes at all for therest of theday.

She went for lunch on her own, but didn´t eat anything. Instead she walked through the park for half an hour, trying to get her emotions under control again. The rest of the day passed without incident, as did the rest of the week. She still couldn´t stand looking into his eyes for more than a second, but hoped that nobody would notice.

On the following Tuesday, she had another report to finish after hours. Coming back from the printer, she noticed a person standing next to her desk. "I thought you went home." She said as she approached him.

"I...uhm...I was wondering if you would care to keep me company tonight." He said and she was surprised by that. After more or less trying to dodge him, she wouldn´t have expected this. "It´s just pizza tonight though, I didn´t have time to cook." Something in his voice told her that she should just accept without asking any questions.

"If it´s okay for you, sure." She said, put the file away and packed up. They walked to the garage. "I´ll just follow you then." She got into her car and drove behind him until they reached his house.

After ordering their food, they sat down in the livingroom. For some reason, he wasvery subdued tonight and she realized he had been like this for most of the day. "What´s wrong?" She asked after a while.

"Nothing." Unusual answer, very unusual answer and the fact that he kept staring down at the floor added to her suspicion that something was wrong. Had he found out that she knew about his secret?

She kept her eyes on him. "You can´t lie to me. Something is bothering you... it´s not my business, never mind, sorry." She said as she realized he was uncomfortable abou tit, but then he shook his head and looked at her.

"It´s just...It´s just I don´t like to be alone today, that´s all." He said and she quickly put two and two together, leading to a dreadful result. "Something happened many years back, but somehow it´s still haunting me." He said and she felt that he was slowly opening up. The next second, the doorbell sounded and he withdrew again.

About half an hour later Kate grabbed her third piece of pizza and continued to watch the movie he had put in. She suddenly smiled and he gave her a puzzled look. "I´m just trying to imagine Tony´s face if I ever told him that we had pizza and beer at your house." She said and he smiled briefly.

When the movie was finished, it was rather late and she planned to leave soon, but somehow, she didn´t want to leave him alone just yet. She put their plates into the sink while he turned off the TV. When she sat down again, she looked at him. "I´ve never seen you like this." She told him and saw something in his eyes she had indeed never seen before.


	8. True meaning of Friendship

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Have you ever wondered why Gibbs is never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it, but they will get more than they were ready to find...

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8- The true meaning of friendship

After a moment, he started to speak, his voice calm, but shaking with emotions. "It was 12 years ago. We were at an Air Show in Norfolk." He said, his voice almost a whisper and she could sense how much this cost him. He paused for a moment and looked out of the window. Kate wasn´t sure what to do and just waited. She felt her heart breaking when she saw a single tear rolling down his face as he continued, but his voice broke when he came to the part about the marine.

She got up from the armchair and sat down on the couch next to him, carefully placing her hand on his arm. "It wasn´t your fault." She said and his head shot up. She just looked at him and saw more tears rising into his eyes. "It was not your fault he turned to the wrong guy." Kate told him and suddenly those tears started to fall. She didn´t move and let him cry against her shoulder.

After a while, the sobs subsided and he looked up again. "How did you know?" He asked, his voice still shaking. This was so unlike Gibbs, but seeing him vulnerable like this was something she would never forget.

"I saw the picture in your bathroom and asked Ducky. He didn´t want to tell me, so I forced it out of him. I´m sorry." She said, but much to her surprise, he didn´t seem mad about it.

"It just hurts so much." He didn´t try to pull out of her embrace and put his head onto her shoulder again. This simple gesture meant more than just that and she understood. "I never dared to tell anyone and nobody ever seemed to notice."

She smiled. "Remember when you locked us in the elevator? We had been thinking about that name thing just then." She told him and looked at him. He seemed surprised to hear that. "We do care, Gibbs. We really do, well we try to, but you´re not making it easy." Kate said and tried to smile, but felt a tear escaping her eye.

Gibbs raised his hand and brushed the tear from her face. "I didn´t want to make you sad." He said, but she shook her head. "I like your smile. It always makes me happy, you know."

"I just don´t understand how you could go on with that secret for so long." She told him and noted that he had lowered the walls around his heart completely now.

There was a faint smile on his face. "And I don´t understand how you can put up with a tyrant like me for so long." He replied, trying to make it sound like a joke, but she knew it was not.

"You´re no tyrant, Jethro." She said and saw how his head shot up at the sound of his first name. She had never used it before. "You´re the best boss we could hope for -all of us are still there after two years in the field. I´ve seen whole teams down within less than that. You´ve been keeping us save. And eventhough you keep barking at me when we´re at work, I see you as a friend."

He sat up a bit and searched for the right words for a moment. "Thank you for saying that. You don´t know how much it means to me." He got up and pulled a bottle of wine from the cupboard. "Care for some of this?" She just nodded, noting that he looked a bit better now.

Two hours later, Kate had fallen asleep in the armchair yet again. Gibbs watched her sleep and smiled. She was a very special person. She was a wonderful agent, tougher than others he had worked with, but she could be caring and sweet at the same time. He walked into the kitchen when he noted that his cell phone was ringing. He had turned the volume down earlier that evening. "Gibbs." He answered it and noted that the last glass of wine had been a little too much.

"Jethro, I tried calling you twice already. Are you all right?" It was Ducky on the other end of the line.

"Yep, think I am." Gibbs replied and looked back into the livingroom for a moment.

"Jethro, have you been drinking?" Mallard inquired, clearly worried. He had always feared that some day his friend would do something stupid when this anniversary came around.

"Just some wine, Duck. I...well, Kate is here." He admitted and heard his friend swallow hard. "How did she make you tell?"

"Jethro, I´m sorry. I shouldn´t have told her, I know, but it´s Caitlin we are talking about..." Ducky started, but he didn´t need to apologize.

"Duck, it´s fine, really. Maybe I shouldn´t have been hiding from this for so long. It screwed up my life back then and it still does, which it shouldn´t be doing." It was hard to say these words, but they had to be said.

There was a long silence. "Do you mind if I come over for a moment?" Ducky then asked and Gibbs knew that he was still worried, maybe even thought he would be lying to him about what was going on.

"Just come around, you know where I live." He hung up and walked back to the livingroom, putting a soft cover over Kate´s sleeping form. He sat out on the front porch when a car pulled up into his driveway. "Hey, Duck." He greeted the older man, who came over with a worried look on his face.

"Now, I was right about you lying to me again, Jethro." He said, but Gibbs grinned.

"No, I didn´t. Just don´t wake her up when you go in." Gibbs opened the front door and lead the doctor in, who smiled when he noted the sleeping woman in the armchair. They walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with two glasses of wine. "I´m not sure what I would have done if she hadn´t been here tonight, Duck. It scares me to realize that."

"Most likely, you would have finished at least one bottle of scotch in the basement, while sanding the boat and fallen asleep at some point, like all those years before." Ducky said and smiled. "Caitlin is a wonderful person. She can address any topic openly, she is a good listener and she is the best profiler I have met during my career. I call myself lucky to count her among my friends."

Gibbs looked at his friend. "Duck, don´t get me wrong. She is a wonderful person and she really means a lot to me, but..."

"But you would never look at her as a woman. My, Jethro, did you really think I hadn´t figured that out for a long time? From the way you treat her, she´s like a daughter to you. You care, you worry about her safety and you want to see her happy. Does that sum it up correctly?" Ducky asked and smiled.

"That´s about it, yes. Listen, it´s late and we got to be at the office at 8. I think it´s time to retire. You can have the guest room, if you want to." Gibbs offered and smiled. He knew that Ducky had brought some clothes along. He always did when he came over at such a time.

"I shall take you up on that offer. Are you going to leave poor Caitlin slumped into that chair or will you put her onto the couch? She will be all sore tomorrow." Mallard said when he headed out to his car again. When he returned, Gibbs was covering Kate with the cover again. She was now settled onto the large couch in the middle of the room, still sleeping peacefully.

Sleep wouldn´t come that night, at least for one of the three inhabitants of the house. Jethro Gibbs stared up at the ceiling and wondered what the next day would bring. He had never dared to talk to his team about what had happened. Knowing now that they had tried to find out by themselves somehow touched him. It showed that they cared about each other -even about him. At some point, he finally dozed off only to be woken by the sound of his alarmclock a few hours later. It wasn´t only a new day, it was a new chapter of his life that would start today. Today he would face the demons that had haunted him for so many years.


	9. Final Battle

Demons of the past

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything

Summary: Have you ever wondered why Gibbs is never called Leroy? On a boring day, some people start to wonder about it, but they will get more than they were ready to find...

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9- Final battle

Ducky was already up and made breakfast when he walked into the kitchen. "Good morning, Jethro. I took the freedom to prepare some breakfast. You should wake up Caitlin, the eggs will be done in just a few minutes." The doctor said and continued to stir in a large pan.

Gibbs smiled and walked into the livingroom. "Kate? It´s time to get up." He said and put his hand onto her shoulder. She stirred and opened her eyes after a moment. She seemed a bit startled when she found herself on the couch.

"What the...oh no...did I fall asleep again?" She asked as she sat up and grimaced when he nodded. "I´m sorry...I´m bothering you again."

"You´re not bothering me at all, Kate. If you want to get refreshed, you better hurry. Ducky made breakfast and it´s almost done." He told her and walked back towards the kitchen, leaving her puzzled.

"When did Ducky come over? Are you sure there wasn´t anything in that wine? I think I got a major blank here." She replied and disappeared into the bathroom. A few minutes later she had fixed her hair and walked into the kitchen where the two men were sitting at the table already. "Hi, Ducky." She greeted the medical examiner, who smiled back at her.

"Good morning, Caitlin. I did not have the chance to talk to you last night as you were asleep when I arrived." He said and put some eggs onto his fork. They talked about this and that during breakfast before getting ready to go to work.

Kate drove with Gibbs again. She wasn´t really sure if she should bring the topic on what happened the day before and just didn´t say anything. "Are you mad at me for something?" He suddenly asked and looked at her while they were waiting for the light to change to green.

"Me? No. What makes you think that?" She asked and returned the look.

"You´re not saying anything. I...uhm...well, thank you for being there last night. I don´t know what I would have done if I had been alone. Ducky is always coming over on that specific day because he is worried. He keeps telling me that one day I´ll get myself killed somehow." He said and tried to make it sound like a joke, but both knew it wasn´t.

"You´re my friend. If you need someone to talk to, just let me know, but you shouldn´t go into hiding from all of us. Tony, Abby and even McGee are your friends as well, you just have to give them a chance." She told him and he nodded. "If you feel ready, you should tell them before they come to any conclusions that will get them into trouble. Abby tried hacking into the computer network of the pentagon a couple of days ago, just to find out more."

He raised an eyebrow. "She´ll get into major trouble if they catch her doing that. I will tell them when I´m ready." Again, it sounded honest and not like something he just made up to get her off his back.

Kate thought for a moment, pondering whether she should tell him about the little demon of her past. "I know that´s not easy." She finally said and he looked at her with a puzzled expression. "That´s a different story, not today, okay?" She got out when he parked the car in the garage and headed into the office.

Shortly before noon, Gibbs sighed. He knew he had to face this and he had put it off from one hour to the next one, but he felt that he had to do it. "Dinozzo, Kate, McGee, meet me in the morgue. Kate, you get Abby." He said and strode into the elevator, leaving two of his three agents puzzled.

"Wow...what did we do wrong?" Tony asked as he got up from his desk.

"Nothing, Tony. I think this is about something else." Kate said as she got into the elevator.

"How do you know?" Tony looked at her, but she didn´t answer. Abby was busy on some analysis when Kate called her to come and soon they had all gathered in the morgue. The plasma on the wall showed a picture of three people.

Kate knew this picture and bit her lip when she realized what was going to happen next. She stood next to Tony, who seemed oblivious of what was going to happen. Gibbs leaned against an autopsy table, obviously nervous and maybe even a bit scared. His eyes didn´t give it away, but Kate could take and educated guess about it, which would be accurate enough.

When all looked at him, he took a deep breath and turned towards the picture. "I guess you´re wondering about that picture up there. Red-head there is Flora, my first wife. She was a wonderful woman, amazing she took me back then." He said, his voice sounding soft. Tony looked at Kate, but she just motioned him to listen. From the way he talked, she knew that Gibbs wasn´t actually talking to them, but to himself or rather to his demons. "That was 12 years ago. The little chap there was our boy and almost my namesake as well. It was his 5th birthday that day. Leroy Jonas was pretty much the kid I have never been. Curious, bright, always a smile on his lips."

Kate felt tears in her eyes again as she listened to him. Even without seeing his face, she knew that he was crying now as well, but didn´t want them to see it. He had to do this. She had done something like this before and knew how hard it could be to talk about it.

"We went to the Air Show in Norfolk a few days later. Leroy got lost when we were heading to the exhibition. It was the last time we saw him alive." His voice broke, but this was far from being over, so he pulled himself together. It was obvious now how much this hurt him, but none of them moved. "The man he turned to for help was a marine. I had told him that he could trust marines as they were good man. The man he turned to was an exception as it turned out. He had already killed two children and Leroy was his third victim. They found him two weeks later in that little forest just north of the base."

It was so silent one could have heard a pin dropping. Kate had her hand over her mouth to keep herself from crying. Tony had his arm around her, but she could see that he too was wrestling with his emotions. Abby leaned onto Ducky´s shoulder, crying softly, while McGee just stood there as if lightning had struck him. Gibbs turned around, looking at them for a moment before he left the morgue. The look in his eyes still didn´t give away what was going on inside him, but the wet streaks on his face told more than just a story.Nobody spoke or moved for at least two full minutes.

"I had no idea." Tony finally said, his voice calm, but shocked.

Kate looked at him. "I did." She said and Ducky nodded as well. She told them how she had found out, but left out that she stayed at his house. "I´m not sure if I want to go investigate someone´s name ever again. Not if there´s something like this behind it."

Abby had calmed down and just nodded. "I got to get my analysis done. See you later." She simply said and walked out of the morgue. McGee muttered something about helping her and left as well.

Tony looked at Ducky and Kate. "I guess that explains a lot then. He can be a bastard, but somehow I feel sorry for him." He said, which was so unlike Tony that both looked at him in surprise. Without another word, he walked out of the morgue.

"You think he´ll be okay?" Kate asked Mallard after a moment. She had regained her composture, but this whole thing still weighed heavy on her shoulders somehow. It had torn open old wounds, which she had almost forgotten already.

"Jethro has faced his demons and I believe he has won that final battle. Now it is not just him carrying that burden. All of us can take a share of it and make it easier on him." Ducky said and smiled. No matter what first name he would go by, he was Gibbs and it would always stay that way.

END

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I hope you liked it -as for the hint on Kate´s personal demons, I´m going to write that story soon.


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